Harvard Business School has posted an interest history of wikipedia, summarizing the key stages of development, as well as policies for managing the dialogue (the policy of handling "articles for deletion" is a great example of democratic action in chaotic public forums). via David Weinberger
According to Bill GatesInternet to revolutionize TV in 5 years: "The Internet is set to revolutionize television within five years, due to an explosion of online video content and the merging of PCs and TV sets."
I've been playing with Joost - still in beta - I received an invite a few weeks ago. Joost is still a first round tool. I remember the beta version of skype - it had glitches, limited functionality, but the sense of "wow, this could change how I communicate" was immediately evident. I have a similar impression of Joost. It's surprisingly easy to use, high quality video...and as more content channels come online, I think it has the potential to change how we watch TV.
It's too early to gain a sense of the impact of the $100 laptop project (over 5 million of these computers will be in the hands of students in developing countries by the end of 2007). It's a tremendous experiment in the impact of access - to technology, networks, and each other (as students). The design of the device is quite innovative - accounting for the conditions of use...for example, as a low energy device (for areas of poor electrical supply) a hand generator (pull a chord for one minute, get ten minutes of power) can be used to provide power. More info: A closer look at what '$100 laptop' will be
I've compiled a list of connectivism resources (in the form of a wiki, listing resources, presentations, and critiques) for our upcoming online conference (we closed registrations at 1000...but if you are interested in being notified once archives are up - which I'm told will be within 15 minutes of each presentation - please enter your email address here - bottom of the page). You can, still login to our moodle site for the asynchronous discussion (you'll need to set up an account).
Apparently, there are 2.7 Billion mobile phones in the world (a number almost double what I've previously heard). Other "tools"? 800 million registered vehicles. 1.5 billion TVs. 1.3 billion phones. 850 million PCs. 1.1 billion people with internet access (that seems low to me). See the rest of the article: Mobile Phone Users...makes a compelling case for the centrality of mobile phones as a global communication tool. Learning designers, corporate knowledge managers, and anyone involved in sharing any type of message should have some mobile phone consideration in their plans.
The reason why networks are so powerful in innovation and learning: Diversity Powers Innovation: "Most people believe that innovation requires smarter people, better ideas. That premise, though intuitive, omits what may be the most powerful but least understood force for innovation: Diversity."
Wikis are great for collaboration. But, as is commonly viewed by educators, the accuracy of information in sites like wikipedia can be a concern. Citizendium has launched with a model of expert-editors, instead of the "anyone edits and contributes" model of wikipedia. In my thinking, this is a question of where we place our "rules" in society. Wikipedia says "it's all open", and attaches rules through a democratic model of evaluating and validating information (i.e. the rules determine which information stays, how disputes are handled, etc. - in a sense, it's messy). Citizendium places rules up front - namely, experts are selected in advance, and their voice (in the form of a workgroup) determines the type of information/knowledge included in the space.
I've posted part one of an online presentation series:Situating Connectivism - relation to existing theories of learning and knowing. Guaranteed to cure insomnia :).
Seb provides an important perspective on the downside of technology "knowing (or sorting) us": "Specifically, when you interact with a service online or by phone there may be software in action that mediates how you experience the service: by sorting you. Live in a high income postcode? Get routed to the a sales person more quickly than if your IP address makes you look as if you come from a less promising area. On record as an awkward customer or "time-waster"? Then wait in the queue."
Ethics play a significant role when discrimination can occur through software-sorted profiling. Mostly, sadly, I hear very little discussion on ethics. The odd press release suggests our privacy is being compromised...so we get irritated for a while, write an email, and then resume life.
Higher Education a Triumph. Hmm "The 21st century is emphatically not the 20th century; then most of our economic success stories might be characterised as "building big things that did things for people", from a national railway network to the National Curriculum. Content was king, education was delivered, wisdom was received. Encyclopedia were sold door to door and knowledge was valued. It was all one way. But in the 21st century all the success stories, from Google and YouTube to the huge growth in our voluntary sector, can be characterised as "helping people to help each other".
What the future holds: "Now I know on many levels I’m not normal, but there are moments in the blogging process that just give me butterflies. Many of them occur serendipitously when I’m reading and two or three pieces of content flow up from my network that begin to click together in my brain like magnets, making connections."
In an online forum recently, while discussing my book Knowing Knowledge, an individual inquired as to the barriers we need to overcome before we see individuals actively using social tools in their learning (i.e. before the notions of connectivism are dispersed into curriculum and work). I responded that the majority of individuals will start using these tools once the strength of the tools (decentralization, modularization) is replaced with a model less pure in spirit, and more inline with how many people prefer to work (i.e. centralization for reduced cognitive load). I suggested that Google is doing it with their platform. And recently IBM has released Lotus Connections: "Lotus Connections has five Web 2.0-based components -- Activities, Communities, Dogear, Profiles and Blogs -- that help business people quickly connect and build new relationships based on their individual needs. These components help users save time by making information previously qualified by others easily accessible. The pace of learning increases as users easily find and exchange ideas with experts across their organization. Since they have access to the experience of others, users can avoid making mistakes and duplicating tasks, saving time and improving the quality of their work."
There is much room for me to insert sarcastic comments on the tone of marketing hype in this article, I'll refrain by focusing on the positives of organizations being willing to adapt and adjust software/processes to our knowledge and learning needs today. It's a start. I will take issue, however, with the proclamation that it is a "first ever" integrated social platform for businesses. While not identical, Intel's Suite Two has been around longer.
A fair question - Is this the end of the scholarly journal?: "But science's hidebound traditions are changing. The Internet has opened up new forms of publishing in which anyone in the world can find and read a scientific paper. And papers themselves are becoming more interactive, leading readers to the underlying data, videos, and discussions that augment their value. With blogs and e-books providing easy means of self-publishing, some observers are speculating that scholarly journals and their controversial system of peer reviews may not be needed at all."
Worth noting, however, that open public writing actually raises the level of peer reviews. the real question of blogs, ebooks, and self-publication is of openness, who has control, and the ability for anyone to have a voice. The other aspects of journals - scholarly in nature, peer review, sources of research and innovation, are not necessarily at odds with what's happening online. It's not scholarly journals that are obsolete. It is controlled, centrally regulated journals that are obsolete. (an idea that is expressed as well toward the end of the article)
The word "network" has been abused. It means everything from "networking a room' (an action), to building a learning network (a process and a product), to a home wireless network...and so on. All of life is a network. When the human genome project discovered that there were far fewer genes that anticipated - they expected 100,000 and discovered only 30,000...compare that with a roundworm with 19,000 genes. How can the extra 11,000 genes produce a human being instead of a worm? The answer appears to lie in the human genetic network - i.e. how genes are networked produces the human (see Eric Beinhocker, "The Origin of Wealth" p. 149 for more discussion). The network creates the species.
Ewan McIntosh explores the importance of creating a network: "In the end, knowing your network and harnessing it can mean the difference between getting what you want, getting it effectively and efficiently and, well, not. But knowing this network isn't as easy as it sounds."
Educators interested in adopting simulations, games, or Second Life, into their teaching will find this compilation of references valuable in building their case...or improving their practice.
It's really rather simplistic to state that our understanding of learning and knowledge is changing due to increased understanding of what happens inside the human brain. Time magazine recently tackled the concept of plasticity. Consider this statement: "a revolutionary idea about the brain: the ability of mere thought to alter the physical structure and function of our gray matter."...or as is stated provocatively in the article "the mind can change the brain". If our thoughts change - or literally, rewire - our brain, imagine the impact of new tools and technology. How are we, and our students, impacted by information abundance? Blogs? Podcasts? Games and simulation? Video? New technology?
See also this short tutorial on the history of how we have understood the brain.
Wikis at Work (via Portals and KM): "Wikis can work because so many of today’s workplace interactions are already digital, no matter whether employees are a cubicle or a continent apart."
This quote (found via The Bumble Bee) resonates with my own views on learning networks: "the hallmark of both a biological and business ecosystem is the way that every members fate is ultimately tied to the health of the network as a whole no matter how fit an individual member appears to be."
The Learning Circuits Blog "Big Question" of January focuses on speed vs. quality in the instructional design process. A favorite statement of a former colleague, when approached for video development, was: You can have it fast, good, or cheap. Pick two. Same applies to elearning design (at least the way it is currently viewed...I won't get into the need to move away from content-centric views and into more conversation-based learning).
I've used elluminate for numerous presentations. It's a great tool. They have now released "vRoom" - free online interactivity for up to three people. The number is smaller than what I would like for most online learning groups (i.e. in courses). Five would really be an ideal number. Regardless, it's a great offering. If you teach online, get your learners to consider this resource. (Disclaimer - Elluminate is sponsoring our upcoming Online Connectivism Conference)
Visualizing information leads to insight often not found in text or numbers. Something as simple as flickr's tag cloud can provide a snapshot of the activities of millions of flickr users. Much more effective for sensemaking than browsing images and trying to get a feel of the zeitgeist. Technology strips away our biases when representing information. Worldmapper serves a similar jolt in visualizing information. The images of infant mortality, population density, wealth, drought, and others are jarring. The maps on education reveal interesting disparities in science growth, illiteracy, and education spending.
Work-life Balance: "In the past, innovation was driven by the military or corporate markets. But now the consumer market, with its vast economies of scale and appetite for novelty, leads the way."
Google may yet, as detailed in the article, become the "outsourcer" of choice for universities and colleges. Tools under the control of the learner have much greater uptake than tools hosted by the institution. Google has done an admirable job of integrating services...and making them appealing not only for learners, but for IT personnel.
Difference and Friction: "Diversity aids problem-solving enormously, but it also generates significant friction. We have come to believe in the business world that friction is bad but, in fact, certain forms of friction are essential to innovation. Even in the absence of diversity in fundamental preferences, people with diverse perspectives and tools and the best of intentions are naturally going to clash over potential solutions to problems that they believe are important before they converge around an answer."
Where do we, as people, end and where does technology begin? Lines are blurring. Technology is no longer only an extension of man (to use McLuhan's gender-specific quote), technology is becoming man. Or man is becoming technology. Whatever. A Humanoid Robot (i.e. a robot your control with your thoughts): "We are working towards enabling sophisticated control and interaction with the environment, using very simple selection-based interfaces that can be operated using brain waves alone."
...and Mapping First Life Experiences with Virtual World Counterparts - a system (looks like a vest, actually) that records our existence (and context) when we are in an "interesting situation".
Important considerations for educators Why Command And Control Is So Bad: "Autocratic top-down, command and control works great when you focus on process--cost and quality...When you live by measurement and numbers, that's what you build--things you can easily measure..."
Structure is quite different from organization. Structure is imposition. Organization is reflection of existing elements. Structure forces entities into pre-formed containers. Organization permits form to emerge. Consider how library books are managed in contrast with tags. Books have a place on a shelf before they are written. The Dewey Decimal System determines where the book will be placed once it is published. That's structure. Organization, however, happens when the participants in the space (and individuals in particular) are able to arrange what exists based on personal interest. If I read an article on learning technologies, and decide to use the tags "emergent", "blog", and "wiki", I have organized the resource so it makes sense to me.
Structure does have a role - as the quote above indicates - based on what we are trying to achieve. Learning, in my eyes, is to complex to be confined to static conceptions of structure...
The details for our upcoming Online Connectivism Conference have now largely been confirmed (please register your email address so we can keep you informed if you would like to attend). The event itself is free to attend.
Diana Oblinger has been added as a speaker, so the presenters now includes:
Stephen Downes, Terry Anderson, Will Richardson, Bill Kerr, Diana Oblinger, and George Siemens (that's me). The schedule of presentations, topics, and bios are available here. If you are not able to attend the scheduled times, all presentations will be recorded and available for viewing later. Discussion will be held in Moodle (or on your own blog, wiki, podcast, or other tool/medium of choice).
We are currently exploring ways of extending the convesation. Several bloggers have been asked to serve as "context filters"...namely to reflect on the daily presentations and provide a reaction based on their context (i.e. K-12, rural schools, poverty, gender issues, etc.).
Thanks to the Learning Technologies Centre at University of Manitoba and elluminate for sponsoring the event.
On my way to work today, I was listening to a podcast of Diana Oblinger's presentation (25 MB file) to ALT-C in September 2006. One comment in particular struck me in her discussion of the role of learners in education. She used the term "legitimate perspective" in reference to learners. In our design of learning spaces, we need to acknowledge that learners provide a perspective or opinion that must be considered. We have for decades - through our actions in designing learning - largely ignored the needs of learners. We were focused on teaching them. It's important today to understand that no one voice over powers all others. Each voice - educator, society, learner, institution, alumni - has a legitimate perspective that must be acknowledged and factored into how approach learning.
USDLA has started publishing a quarterly supplement to USA Today. The first issue is available here (.pdf). I found the articles to provide a basic introduction to distance learning. I would have appreciated a reference list to the article challenging myths of distance learning. I recognize it's intended for a consumer, not academic audience. Many of the myths presented are ones that online educators encounter daily...research and statistics would help the cause...
Peter forwarded this link on a local charity's book market. They have some restrictions on which texts they will take for resale. The list, informal as it is, provides insight into what they are able to sell based on experience (and how the consumers purchasing the text perceive the half-life of knowledge in certain fields. These are the books they do not accept (I'm quite surprised at some items from fields I expected would develop more slowly - like physical education):
University texts more than five years old: Accounting, Business, Economics, Education, Management, Marketing, Psychology and Sociology
University Texts more than 8 years old: Anthropology, Agriculture, Archaeology, Biology, Chemistry, Dramatics, Human Ecology, Medicine, Nursing, Physical Education, Physics, Geography, Political Science, Writer's Guides, Zoology
We have been getting quite a few inquiries, comments, accolades, and other ego-boosting reactions to the U of Manitoba's Virtual Learning Commons (43 Things meets MySpace). Several institutions have inquired about licensing the software. I was informed by LTC's Director (Peter Tittenberger) that the VLC is now available on Sourceforge. Now the functionality of VLC can be integrated with other open platforms (Moodle, Elgg)...or universities/colleges can use the software for their own virtual learning commons.
I have a frustrating relationship with my to-do list. I have, at times, pursued extreme organization. The structure was too stifling. Then I moved to not using a to-do list at all. The result was missed deadlines. I don't like the tyranny of too much structure...or the "get nothing done" result of no planned goals or tasks at all. I'm still searching for the ideal model. 20 Different Ways to Manage your To-Dos presents different models to consider (with the implicit assumption that some type of to-do list is required).
Clarence suggests walls are thinning: "Using the tools we have, we have learned a few things about venturing outside of those walls ourselves and bringing the world in. We have learned to make connections on demand, on schedule, and as needed. We connect with others and forge stronger connections between ourselves...But to prevent them from becoming isolationist and insular, they also need to have thin walls in their learning environments."
I agree. We need permeable learning spaces so that we can reach out to the broader world, to have experts, communities, and networks of teachers (rather than only the one standing in front). And we need permeable learning spaces so we are able to check our own conceptions against those held by a broad community. Insular activity (whether thoughts in our heads or conversations with like-minded people) are deceptive. We can begin to think that we have touched truth and wisdom, when in reality, we have only touched similarity.
The "fourth screen" - mobile devices (the first three are TV, computers, movies) - continues to grow in focus. I think it's imperative that learning professionals (designers, teachers/trainers, administrators) start thinking mobile. While much learning will continue to happen on computers, f2f, or blended means, communication itself is shifting from the desktop to mobiles. Computers are for doing things. Phones are for communicating...and the more prominent conversations (socialization) becomes in the learning process, the more central mobile devices will be. A personal computer to carry in your pocket: "The newest screen is evolving to adopt more and more characteristics of a personal computer. And many believe that the next big shift will be the convergence of many forms of communication encompassing voice, e-mail, instant messaging and video telephony."
...and Apple has just announced their new iPhone
Our minds are finite. We have limitations on our ability to absorb and synthesize new information. Our memory does not always serve us well. We are not able to learn as much or as fast as we would like. Our minds seem rather unsuited for the challenges facing humanity. In my original article on connectivism, I suggested that learning can reside in non-human appliances. Our understanding of cognition is evolving on many level...in particular a) how knowledge and sensemaking happens in distributed, social spaces, and b) the utilization of technology in improving learning and sensemaking. The concept of augmented cognition attends to the latter: "he limitations of cognitive processes, particularly attention and working memory, place a ceiling on the capacity of the brain to process and store information. It is these processes that some researchers are aiming to enhance with augmented cognition, an emerging field which aims to use computational technology to enhance human performance in various tasks by overcoming the bottlenecks in processes such as attention and memory."
Pew Internet has released a short report on social networking and teens. No real surprises (females are more likely to use social sites, 55% of teens have created a profile, MySpace dominates, etc). Interesting point - teens seem to understand privacy fairly well, with 66% limiting access to their profiles).
Human Intelligence map - this site labels itself as an "interactive map" (apparently a Latin term meaning "click a button and a text web page will appear"). Still, a neat resource (though Western-centric) of intelligence development, key figures and relationships. (via Neurophilosophy blog)
Jane has posted links to a series of free elearning tools...consider this nicely laid out guide to choosing and using elearning tools. A great starting point for individuals new to online environment.
Technology will continue to play a greater role in extending cognition and knowledge. We are at the beginning stages now - through the use of widgets, aggregators, and personalized search. My exposure to information (and people) is managed through simple tools like an aggregator, tags, and social network. The Year of the Widget?: "But, thanks to widgets, taking multiple steps to track down headlines in one place and then check your e-mail in another may seem woefully outdated this time next year. These mini-applications—also called “gadgets”—are simple bits of code, easily dragged onto a desktop or pasted into a personal page, where they are constantly updated with whatever information you want."
Identity is starting to emerge as an important focus in 2007 (Stephencommented on it recently as well, but with his site acting a bit goofy, I'm not able to link to the post). OpenID: "The big idea in OpenID is providing a decentralized single sign-on platform."
My recent change in platform for the connectivism blog resulted in the former RSS feed not working. The connectivism blog is still out there :). I just posted on the role of voice and dialogue as a control issues for learners today - Dialogue Online: "The space of dialogue has changed. Instead of a physical or even virtual space (newspaper, TV, radio, classroom, or discussion forum), the connections we form have now become the space. The connection is the space. In direct dialogue we still hold control of voice (through filtering and silencing)...because the ownership of the space rests in the hands of one individual (or a particular group of people). In parallel dialogue, we separate the control of the space from the conversation. The separation of space from dialogue allows each individual to form the connections they find of interest."
It's been a few years (I think) since I linked to an introduction to RSS...so, I guess it's due: Introduction to RSS. Personally, I don't think RSS will have a long history as a unique concept. It will simply be function built into our tools. It will (or should) be transparent. After all, it's not RSS itself that we like...but rather the ability to stay current and informed on many different topics. Or, put another way, it's not breathing we enjoy, but rather living.
oh, and when you're done reading about RSS, follow it up with this discussion of Feed overload
I will be facilitating a discussion of my book, Knowing Knowledge from January 10 - 20 (a synchronous presentation will be held on January 10 to kickoff the discussion). Information is available here. The discussion will be held in Moodle...so if you're planning to "attend" you'll need to create an account. Looking forward to the dialogue.
In small degrees, we are re-writing what it means to know and communicate. Whether it's the simple affordance of a blog or the framework-shifting experience of social networks, the process of interacting, connecting, and sharing with others is changing. Placeblog is an example of the small degrees of huge impact: Placeblogs are "about the lived experience of a place. That experience may be news, or it may simply be about that part of our lives that isn't news but creates the texture of our daily lives: our commute, where we eat, conversations with our neighbors, the irritations and delights of living in a particular place among particular people."